


The Varying Shades of Unhappiness

by bvtterfliez



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Also bossible dreyna, And possible racheyna, I don't care about solangelo or nico tbh so don't hold your breath, I'm all about that drew content so expect her in later chapters, Multi, i'm tired guys, more tags will be added, releasing my bad pjo fics to the public, this has been in my files for more than two months now so I was like okay why not let's go, where there's reyna there's gay basically, you might get a side mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25023895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bvtterfliez/pseuds/bvtterfliez
Summary: High school is horrible, and Leo wants to drop out right now, immediatelyOrI got high off of tiredness alone and decided I could write a relevant high school au
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Leo Valdez, Thalia Grace/Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Kudos: 19





	1. Friends Loved, Friends Lost and Friends Just Not Speaking to Us Anymore

Jason didn’t remember when he and Reyna stopped being friends. He only knew that this new reality- where they shuffled awkwardly through student government meetings and barely talked outside of those except for the occasional, equally awkward heys and hellos and calls of ‘good luck at your next match’- was not one he liked.

He and Reyna had been best friends throughout middle school, throughout freshman year, throughout sophomore year. And yet after the winter break, she started pretending like he didn’t exist. It was the third week of this and he was getting fed up.

“Just forget about it,” was Piper’s slightly slurred response to Jason’s complaints. “When she’s ready to talk she will.”

Jason frowned. He hadn’t expected that at all. Wasn’t Piper usually a big fan of closure? He’d thought she’d come to terms with the fact that Reyna and he were just friends. Had something else come up?

Piper must’ve seen the look on his face, because she added, “You’ve already tried talking. Twice. She wasn’t feeling it. Wait till she is and try again.”

Jason nodded. “You’re right, I guess. It’s just kind of hard, you know? She’s been my best friend for what, five years? And now she suddenly just stops talking to me? Come on, Piper. What if Leo did that to you or me?”

“I would never,” Leo said reassuringly. “Who else would agree to be guinea pigs for my ideas?”

“Nobody. _We_ don’t agree to be guinea pigs for your ideas,” Jason replied, but he was smiling. Leo always knew how to make him laugh. Piper was smiling too. From her position on the kitchen table, she playfully kicked Leo’s head- though even if she had kicked him seriously, it wouldn’t have hurt very much as she was wearing flip flops- Hello Kitty flip flops, to be exact. Jason would never understand her whole Hello Kitty aesthetic, but hey, he shrugged, whatever made her happy.

They were gathered around the island of Piper’s kitchen. Both her dad and his assistant were out, the only situation wherein Piper invited them. According to her, it ‘wasn’t that she didn’t want them around. But when her dad was around she really only wanted to spend time with him, and otherwise only Jane was around, and Jane sucked.’ So far they had raided the fridge for ice cream, raided the liquor cabinet for beer, and raided underneath Piper’s bed for her fourth-grade diary (Piper was apparently quite the Hugh Jackman fan back in the day). And now here they were, tipsy and bitching about their life troubles.

Well. Jason was bitching. Leo was mostly giggling and muttering half-formed thoughts occasionally and Piper was signing up for things online she’d probably regret later. Jason breathed into his cupped palms and wrinkled his nose slightly at the smell. “Guys, we need to go brush our teeth. My breath stinks of beer and I drunk half as much as you guys did. Even if we’re not totally wasted by the time Jane and your dad are here, our breath will give us away.”

“We’re not gonna get wasted,” Piper said, but her speech was slurring more by the minute, so Jason didn’t really believe her. He shrugged anyways. “Suit yourself. It’s your house anyway. Leo and I are gonna go brush our teeth and then stop drinking for the night.” He said the last part gently but firmly, and he hated this, hated how he already knew how to handle someone when they were drunk. How he had _always_ known how to do this, since he was seven. But he didn’t say anything, because it wasn’t his friends’ fault that his mother was always drunk, nor that his dad was a rich deadbeat who knew about his mother’s tendencies but refused to take them in anyway. The world owed him nothing, and it would give nothing. There was nothing to do but move forward.

Leo simply stared up at him with a drunken grin and muttered something under his breath in half-Spanish, half English. He then proceeded to tap randomly on the floor.

Did that beer have drugs in it or something? Why was he acting so insane?

Jason sighed and grabbed his friend by his arms and proceeded to drag him upstairs. “There should be some spare toothbrushes in the guest bathroom upstairs. And if not we’ll settle for mouthwash.”

“Yeah, okay,” Leo mumbled.

With minimal effort (Leo was worryingly skinny for a 16-year-old), Jason managed to drag Leo up the stairs. Even though he had stopped drinking, he still seemed to be getting drunker and drunker the more time passed. Finally, they arrived at the guest bathroom. 

Jason fumbled around the little toothbrush holder before finally settling on two new ones still packaged. As he ripped them open, he felt Leo grab his leg. He looked down at him- into wide, earnest brown eyes that seemed to hold all the fire in the world with their gaze. He swallowed. “Yeah, Leo?” His voice was shaky. With Leo looking at him like that it should have been. “What’s up?”

“Jason,” he slurred. “You’re so nice. Why’re you always so nice?”

Jason shrugged. “It comes naturally, I guess.” When he realised how unconvincing he sounded even to Drunk LeoTM, he said, “I dunno. I guess my life is already crappy so it’s easier to put up with other people’s bullshit and move on.”

“That sounds unhealthy,” Leo slurred. “But it’s better than me I guess. I’m annoying. Everyone thinks so. Don’t try to convince me otherwise,” he insisted drunkenly as Jason protested, “you know it’s true. No one likes me. People put up with me cause I make them laugh, but no one cares about me. Even Piper would want it to be just you and her.”

Jason shook his head. “That’s insane. Piper loves you.”

“Nope. No one does.”

Jason wanted to scream, to tell Leo how wrong he was, how obvious it was that everyone cared about him. But he knew that wasn’t the right way to go about it, especially as Leo was drunk. So instead he just handed him a toothbrush. “Here,” he said, then set about brushing his own teeth.

That familiar grip again. Jason turned around. “What?” he asked, annoyed but only slightly.

“Jason,” Leo said. “Jason...”

“What?” Jason asked, exasperated.

“Probably shouldn’t do this drunk,” Leo muttered. Then, “Fuck it.”

“Jason,” Leo said, “I’m gay.”

Then he threw up on Jason’s shoes.

* * *

Percy loved his girlfriend. He really did.

But not so much to the point where he would willingly study math for her. Nobody, nobody, was that in love with someone.

“Please,” Annabeth begged, looking up at him with big, pleading grey eyes.

Except for him, apparently.

“Fine,” he grumbled, pulling out his textbook.

Annabeth grinned and opened it up, almost immediately explaining the topic within. And Percy _tried_ to pay attention to what she was saying and not the animated light in her eyes as she said it, or how good the freckles sprinkled across her nose looked in the light, or the way she twirled her princess curls around her pencil and/or knitted her eyebrows when she was thinking… but he wasn’t made of steel. One had a right to observe how hot their girlfriend was, even if they were supposed to be focusing on math.

Slowly he felt himself drifting off. Seduced by the smell of Annabeth’s perfume and the lull of the ceiling fan, he thought. Surely Annabeth wouldn’t mind…

“Seaweed Brain?”

Sleep…

“Seaweed Brain…”

“SEAWEED BRAIN!”

Percy jumped awake and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah, Wise Girl?”

Annabeth sighed. “Were you even paying attention?”

“I was a little,” Percy mumbled.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, no,” Percy admitted.

Annabeth rolled he eyes. “Do you _want_ to fail math?”

“No, but I don’t want to study either. Didn’t we just finish tutoring?”

“Never hurts to study extra.”

“I’m dating an absolute nerd.”

“I’m dating a skater boy jock hybrid,” Annabeth shot back. “But you’re cute, so I’m not complaining.”

Percy grinned at that and leaned in to kiss her. She accepted, their lips connecting, first in a light brush, and then they were kissing for real, hard and rough and deep, Percy’s lips smothering Annabeth’s and her tongue deep in his mouth. It wasn’t long before Percy was leaning into Annabeth so hard he was on top of her, making the situation slightly uncomfortable but otherwise perfect. Percy dug his fingers into Annabeth’s hair, taking pleasure in her moans and the shudders that littered her body-

“Percy?”

At the sound of his mother’s voice Percy jumped away, smoothing his hair and shirt- Annabeth had rucked up both. Annabeth sat up and set about making herself presentable. “Yeah, Mom?” Percy yelled back.

“Grover’s here to see you!”

“You forgot your phone at my place, man!” Grover yelled.

 _Ah,_ Percy thought. _So it wasn’t in my bag, then._

“Coming!” Percy yelled. He turned around to say something to Annabeth, only to realize she was getting ready to leave. He raised an eyebrow? “Going already?” he said curiously.

Annabeth nodded. “Late anyways. The stepmother and I still don’t exactly get along, so I don’t want to give her a reason to blow up at me.” She headed for the door. Percy grabbed her arm. “Wait,” he said.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “What?” she asked.

Percy looked at Annabeth. Really looked. Looked at her curly blonde hair and her big grey eyes, at her Yankees cap and the orange T-shirt she always insisted on wearing. He looked at the little furrow of her brows that she only got when she was thinking or confused. He looked at the girl he’d been in love with since sophomore year.

“Nothing,” he said finally. “Just remembering how lucky I am.”

Annabeth smiled, kissed him on the cheek and made her way out.

Percy stood in his room for a bit, smiling.

“Percy you dumb fuck, get down here and get your phone!”

Percy rolled his eyes. “Coming!” he yelled and made his way downstairs.

* * *

Frank knew he was in deep shit from the moment he saw Hazel at her locker.

He immediately ducked behind the vending machine- not that it did much good, considering that he was about six foot three and basically built like a brick, but it was better than nothing. Frank and Hazel hadn’t seen each other since the week before winter break- when Frank crashed her brother’s car into a tree.

The damage had been minimum, but Frank would never forget the horrified look on Hazel’s face as the back of Nico’s car hit the trunk of the tree. Frank hadn’t spoken to her since then. Honestly, he didn’t _want_ to. He would only humiliate himself further.

Jason had insisted it probably wasn’t that bad. It definitely was. Nico could never know about Frank’s crush or he would probably end up dead. Reyna had told him to try and do something more sophisticated to convince Hazel he wasn’t a total loser.

Good plan, if he could manage it.

Oh, God, he was sweating. How was he supposed to win Hazel over if he was _sweating_? He would look disgusting. He would _smell_ disgusting. He would repulse Hazel so much she would convince her family to move so he never had to be near him again. Oh God, why was he doing this to himself-

“Frank?”

Frank jumped. He looked up at his new companion. It was Percy. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Hey, Percy,” he said casually, like he hadn’t just been hiding behind a vending machine.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. “You okay, man?”

Frank sighed. “That’s not you wanted to say, Percy.”

Percy grinned. “Okay, yeah it’s not. I wanted to say, ‘What the fuck are you doing behind a vending machine?’ But I figured that’d be rude.”

Frank sighed. “I want to talk to Hazel? But the last time we saw each other I crashed Nico’s car, so…”

Percy winced. “Ah. Can’t help you with that, brother. I’m _dating_ Annabeth and I _still_ embarrass myself in front of her.”

Frank groaned. “What am I gonna do? I mean, obviously I have to talk to her _sometime_ , right? I can’t just keep letting her think I’m an oaf.”

“Why not? The oaf thing can be very charming if you can pull it off.”

Frank glared at him.

“Okay, fine! Look, my advice is… just pretend it never happened. It’s her brother’s car, not yours. Chances are she forgot about it. Just go and strike up a conversation like nothing ever happened. No need to bring up a humiliating scene from the last time you saw each other.”

Frank nodded. Yeah, that made sense. Just act as if everything’s normal. Easy. “Thanks,” he told Percy.

“You’re welcome,” Percy smiled. “Good luck!” he called as he walked away.

“Thanks!” Frank yelled back. “I’ll need it,” he mumbled under his breath.

With much bravery, he managed to drag himself over to Hazel.

He felt his heart flutter at the sight of her. Hazel had curly brown hair and glowing dark skin. When she turned to face him he was struck by her eyes. No matter how many times he saw her, her eyes- beautiful dark brown- always took his breath away. Matched with her kind and reassuring, yet tough and determined personality, it was pretty much impossible to not fall for her. Despite certain complications, like her brother being horror personified and Frank himself being an ogre.

Hazel smiled when she saw him. “Hey Frank!” she said cheerfully. Frank felt shocked when she gave him a hug. “It’s been a while,” she mumbled into his shoulder.

Frank blushed. “Um, yeah,” he stammered. “It, it has.” He paused. Then, he said, trying to sound casual and not like the sentence took all of his confidence and willpower, he added, “It’d probably be easier to stay in touch if we had each other’s numbers.”

Hazel nodded. “Yeah, it would.” She held out her phone. After taking five seconds to recover from his shock that that had _worked_ , he took it from her and punched his number into her contacts. She laughed when she saw what he had saved himself as. “Chinese Canadian Baby Man?” she giggled. “No offense, Frank, but that doesn’t really work anymore. You look more like a… Disney prince. A Chinese-Canadian Disney prince.” Was Frank imagining things, or was she blushing?

Frank snorted. “A prince who’s constantly knocking everything over.”

“Princes can make mistakes, too,” Hazel said. “Doesn’t make them less princely.”

Frank shook his head. “You put too much faith in me, Hazel Levesque.”

“Only because you put too little in yourself, Frank Zhang,” she retorted.

Frank smiled. Then he glanced at his watch. “I gotta go,” he said. “Class starts in three minutes. I’ll see you around, though?”

Hazel smiled back. “Definitely,” she promised. Then, she seemed to catch sight of someone behind Frank. “Hey!” she yelled. “Lavinia, wait up!”

Frank moved aside as Hazel chased after a gangly pink-haired girl. She said something to Hazel that made her laugh. Frank’s heart warmed at the sound. He wanted to hear Hazel laugh like that every day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sincerely apologize for the use of gold eyes and umber hair in this chapter, I was tired and forgot to completely disregard all descriptions of people of colour by Rick Riordan.


	2. It Was Good Until It Wasn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Reyna's split up from her point of view and The Promised Drew Content. And Leo. Twice.

Reyna was not avoiding Jason. She was giving him space.

They had been friends for years. Sharing the best and worst parts of themselves, telling each other everything, shouldering each other’s worst experiences together.

She never thought that would end. That he’d have new people to share everything with.

 _But it did,_ Reyna thought to herself. _And he does._

Reyna had never seen herself being replaced. By _two people,_ no less. Frank and Nico were great friends, but it just…

“It’s not the same,” she murmured to herself.

“Brooding again, Ramirez?”

Reyna glared up at the scrawny blonde scarecrow in front of her. “What do you want, Octavian?” she snapped.

Octavian only smirked. “Well, _president_ ,” he sneered, still clearly not over Reyna having beaten him, “just wanted to let you know that my debate team is running out of funds, fast.”

Reyna clenched her pen. “ _How?_ ” She forced the words through gritted teeth, lest she scream them. “Jason’s team is fine. So is Piper and Drew’s. You’re literally the only one who has problems with the amount of money given to him.”

Octavian scowled. “I can’t be expected to carry my team, President Ramirez-Arellano.”

“Maybe not on the podium, Octavian, but seeing as your literal _only job_ is to manage the money given to you for your team, in this case you can.”

Octavian huffed. “Whatever. We need more money.”

“We’ve given you everything within debate team resources,” Reyna argued. “For us to give you more money we’d have to take money away from other funds, which is absolutely not happening.”

Octavian threw his hands in the air. “What the fuck am I supposed to do, then!”

“You’re the son of a senator, aren’t you? Figure something out.”

Reyna couldn’t help that her tone was mocking. Octavian’s status as a politician’s son took up roughly 80% of pretty much all conversation with him. It was only fair he use it to help his team.

Octavian glowered and stomped off. Reyna snorted and returned to the math sheet laid in front of her.

_Jason would have laughed at this._

* * *

Thinking about it now, telling Jason he was gay and then throwing up on him probably wasn’t such a good idea.

As he lay sprawled across Nyssa’s bed nursing a hangover, he wondered what had ever possessed him to come to make such a decision.

Oh yeah. Beer.

“Remind me never to drink again,” Leo groaned.

Nyssa snorted. “No problem. Believe me, it’s best for everyone.”

After Leo’s outburst, Jason had stood frozen still, not saying anything for a whole five minutes before muttering something like, “Okay, cool, but did you have to throw up on my shoes?”

Then he removed said shoes, placed them under the tap and left.

 _Probably to make out with Piper for an hour to wash off the gay aura,_ Leo thought.

It was unfair of him, really. Jason’s reaction hadn’t been _amazing_ , sure, but it hadn’t been homophobic either. Had it? Leo hadn’t really experienced homophobia past being called a fag once by passer-by for wearing suspenders. And fuck that guy, cause his suspenders were _great_.

And anyway. Was he really gay? He might not be. I mean, he thought Calypso was hot. And he might not have a _crush_ on Jason exactly. Maybe he just liked him like. As a friend.

 _Your socks say otherwise,_ his brain pointed out.

 _Shut up,_ Leo replied.

Nyssa passed him a bottle of water. “Drink,” she ordered. Then she sighed and leaned back against the windowsill. “You know; I have better things to do than nurse your hangover.”

“Then go do them,” Leo grumbled.

Nyssa shot Leo A LookTM that meant if he kept talking his death was guaranteed. “But I’m here anyways,” she continued, “supporting you. So the least you could do is try to get into situations like this less.”

Leo grunted. “It’s not like I’m _always_ hungover.”

“Of course not,” a voice from behind Leo said. His elder brother Jake rolled into the room. “You’re too busy being always injured, high, lazy, tired or in trouble at school to be always hungover.”

“Hey, Jake.”

“Hey, little brother. Now what’s this about you coming home drunk off your ass last night and still having a hangover at this hour?”

“’S fine,” Leo mumbled. “Nyssa exaggerated.”

Nyssa didn’t exaggerate, but Leo didn’t need Jake stressing about taking care of him. He was a senior in high school, for god’s sake. He had enough on his plate.

Unfortunately, Jake didn’t look as if he quite believed Leo’s claims. “Riiight. Well, I texted Jason and Piper to tell them to come over and look after you after school.”

Leo spat out his water. “What?”

Jake arched an eyebrow. “Is there a problem, little bro? I can tell them not to…”

Leo shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. Forget I said anything.”

Jake regarded him wearily. “Okay…”

Leo leaned back against the pillows. Jason and Piper were going to come over after school and look after him.

Jason was going to come over after school and look after him.

Jason, who Leo came out to yesterday.

_Fun._

“Kill me now,” he mumbled into the sheets.

“The alcohol will do that first”, Nyssa replied.

* * *

Drew found herself wanting to jump out of the debate meeting room window earlier than she expected.

With Piper droning on and on about persuasion, trying to be nice to the rest of the team and pretend they weren’t totally incompetent, and Lacey being even more of a leech than usual, Drew’s day was going really crappy.

No, Drew thought with a frown. Lacey wasn’t a leech. Lacey was probably the only person on this damn club who liked her, at this point. Which should be strange, because Piper was her sister, or whatever. But it was the truth.

“Right, Drew?”

Piper’s voice cut into her thought process, and Drew counted herself lucky that she had _sort of_ been paying attention. “Yeah, aggression really isn’t the way to go. Being super passionate might _seem_ like a good idea at first, but ultimately it makes you seem biased. Use as little examples that involve you and your immediate friends and family as possible. Focus on facts, and make sure they’re facts that will convince your audience.”

The rest of the team nodded and Drew had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Like they were even listening.

The meeting went on for a few more minutes before everyone could leave and Drew hurried out, not wanting to stay in the stuffy room for much longer. She gave Piper a thump on the arm. “Hey, loser,” she said. “We have an hour till school’s over. Am I driving you home or…”

Piper shook her head. “Nope, I’m going over to Leo’s. He’s sick and….”

Drew didn’t hear the rest. Her eyes zeroed in on someone behind Piper. A redheaded someone in a paint splattered outfit. “Gotta go,” she said, distracted, and followed the figure.

She was headed for the bathrooms, the ‘closed for repair’ ones, which probably meant she knew Drew was following her. Drew ducked into the bathrooms behind her and shut the door firmly, pushing all her weight against it for good measure. “Where have you been?” she demanded.

Rachel grinned at her. “Is that all you have to say?” she teased.

Drew scowled. “Believe me, anything else I have to say is very unfriendly.”

“You wound me, Your Highness.”

“Don’t call me that,” Drew snapped, but there was no venom in her words. “C’mere,” she said softly and pulled Rachel in by her waist. Their lips brushed against each other, lightly at first, but then deeper, with Rachel tongue in Drew’s mouth and Drew’s hands in Rachel’s hair. Drew let out a soft moan and she felt Rachel smile at the sound. Which was a little awkward now that both their tongues were on the prowl, but fine.

After what seemed like forever and yet not long enough, Rachel pulled away. “My dad whisked me away,” she explained, panting slightly. “On an unwanted ‘family’ vacation. Sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“It’s fine,” Drew muttered, playing with Rachel’s hair. “Just- just warn me. Next time.”

Rachel smiled. “Okay.” She wound her fingers through Drew’s belt loops. “How’ve you been?” she murmured.

Drew frowned. She wriggled out of Rachel’s grimace. It was tough, but she managed. “Fine,” she said shortly. “I’ve been just fine, Rachel. I don’t fall apart the moment you’re gone.”

Rachel bristled instantly and Drew hated that that made her feel better. “I’m not saying that. I was just- god, Drew, I was just _asking_.”

Drew laughed bitterly. “Yeah. Just _asking_. Not trying to pick and probe and trying to find out my backstory like you usually do? Find some secret sap story to explain why I’m such a bitch?”

“I don’t _think_ that, asshole. Although sometimes you make me consider it!”

“Like when? Like now?”

“ _Yes_ like now! And like the last time we did this, and like every time you start getting mad at me for no fucking reason!”

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t always be happy when you want me to be and sad when I should me! Believe me, miss ‘always says what I want to, always in touch with my emotions’, I would _love_ to be a happy-go-lucky fucking mess like you all the time, but I can’t, because some of us have _real problems_ , and we can’t sort them out by making out with whatever girl they think their parents would hate the most!”

Rachel recoiled. “Why would you-” She cut off, her voice softer. “Rachel, is that why you think I’m doing this?”

Drew gave Rachel _a look._ “I know it’s not the normal reason people do this shit.”

Rachel sighed and put her head in her hands. “Look, I don’t- I know we’re not together, or anything, and we don’t really- like each other like that, but this is- this is important to me, okay? And I’m not doing this to piss of my parents, or whatever. If I was, I’d take you to family dinners and parade them at company parties and leave pictures of you and me all over our living room.

Drew snorted. “That’d go over well.”

Rachel chuckled. “Yeah.” Then she exhaled. “Look, let’s just- can we go back to making out?”

Drew just nodded. Making out was simpler. She let Rachel wrap her arms around her and push her against the bathroom sink, and tried to forget every worry and regret and burden she’d had for as long as she could remember, and just get lost in Rachel’s mouth.

* * *

Leo decided to change before Piper and Jason came over and his life was ruined.

He decided on wearing a clean white shirt and sweats, to look relatively clean and normal and Not GayTM. And he went without shoes. Because guys who wear shoes are gay.

He floundered around uselessly in bed for almost the whole day before the door swung open and Jason and Piper bounded in. “Leo?” Piper said worriedly. “How bad is your hangover?”

Leo shrugged. “Could be worse, I guess.” He studied Jason carefully out of the corner of his eye. Was he uncomfortable? Disgusted? But no, Jason’s face was only concerned and Leo couldn’t determine anything beyond that.

Piper sat at the edge of the bed. “I made you some cookies,” she explained. Sure enough, five seconds later there was a Ziploc bag of sweet, dairy-and-egg free treats in his face, which he accepted with no complaint. “When’d you have the time?” he wondered aloud.

Piper shrugged. “Okay, so maybe I didn’t make them for this purpose _specifically._ Maybe they were already in the fridge, and I didn’t feel like eating them. So I brought them to school, and no one else wanted them. So when I heard you were sick I jumped at my chance to get rid of them. _Maybe_ that’s what happened. The question is-” Piper leaned forward, so she was nose to nose with Leo. “Do you care?”

“No,” Leo confessed. Piper laughed and tapped Leo on the nose, then leaned back into her original position. “I heard you threw up on Jase’s shoes.”

Leo’s throat tightened. Jason told Piper about the barf? If Jason told Piper about the barf, did that mean he told her what he said?

Jason seemed to pick up on Leo’s stress. “Uh, Piper?” he said.

Piper looked up at him. “Yeah, babe?”

Leo resisted the urge to gag.

“I, uh, think Leo might need medicine. You know where the cabinet is, right? I don’t. Could you…”

Piper nodded, gave a thumbs up and bounded out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

For a while the was an awkward, heavy silence. “So,” Jason said. “Um. Sorry. About your hangover.”

Leo shrugged. “Whatever.”

“I didn’t- tell her, or whatever. Piper, I mean. I didn’t tell her about you being gay.”

 _You being gay._ Leo both hated and was relieved by how casually Jason said it. “Cool. Thanks, man.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. Eat some cookies, man”

Leo shoved two in his mouth. “So,” he said through a mouthful. “You’re not grossed out, or whatever?”

Jason wrinkled his nose. “Well, I am _now_. But not by you being gay, by the mouthful of food I just saw in your mouth. You being gay is great. I’m happy you trusted me enough to tell me.”

“I might’ve told you anyway,” Leo pointed out. “Given that I was drunk.”

Jason laughed. “Yeah, I guess.” He paused. “You’re paying me back for the shoes, though.”

Leo grinned. “Aw, did I ruin someone’s fancy Italian shoes?” he crooned. Jason gave him a gentle shove. “Asshole,” he muttered. “So, we’re cool? I kind of worried I seemed homophobic earlier.”

“I had my worries,” Leo admitted. “But yeah, man. We’re cool.”

They shared a grin, one that made Leo’s heart flutter in ways it should not have been fluttering. Then the door swayed open and Piper entered, arms full of medicine. “I’m back!” she grinned. “So, I grabbed everything headache and hangover related in the drawer. Still got a headache?”

Leo did, but somehow he still felt like he was lying to Piper. Maybe because now for the first time, Jason knew something about him that Piper didn’t know as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This chapter is shorter than expected. But it covers pretty much everything I want covered here. So it stays.  
> Reyna's bit felt a bit stale to me? So let me know what you think. Anyways stay safe and stream Kehlani for clear skin

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this chapter was supposed to be relevant somehow but I got tired  
> Anyway I did a thing enjoy my pain  
> PS I know nothing, nor could I find anything, on Louisiana Creole hair colour so I just tried to describe it like normal African hair but I'm tired so it probably came out looking dry. Let me know if y'alls hair can really be cinnamon.


End file.
